Wallace Thompson was a founder member of the DUP and a loyal follower of the late Ian Paisley.  

Now he feels that some form of Irish Unity is inevitable – why?  

He spoke to Sam McBride.

The BelTel brings you some of Northern Ireland's top journalists, Allison Morris, Sam McBride and Suzanne Breen to name but a few, giving you the inside stories behind what is in the news. Presented by Ciarán Dunbar, the Bel Tel investigates, debates and informs every Monday, Wednesday and Friday.

The BelTel

Wallace Thompson: DUP founder tells Sam McBride ‘New’ Ireland is inevitable  

Roger Casement was hanged in August 1916 for treason against the Crown. Formerly Sir Roger, his assistance to Germany during the First World Ward was undeniable and from a British point of view he was a traitor.  

From from an Irish nationalist point of view, he was a rebel and a hero who now took his place in history among the martyrs of republicanism and the leader of the 1916 Rising.  
 
No knight of the realm had faced treason charges for centuries, let alone be executed. His story was without precedent.  

A Protestant Anglo-Irish man who had been a loyal servant of the British empire, he had exposed horrific abuses of indigenous people in Africa and South America. But he then came to believe Ireland urgently needed to free itself of Britain. 
 
Who was this complex individual and how did he end up being killed by the state he had served?   
 
Casement is a subject of a new book – A Rebel And A Traitor – by Rory Carroll, the Guardian's Ireland correspondent. 
 
He joined Sam McBride on the BelTel.  

Roger Casement: Protestant British hero who became a 'rebel and a traitor' 

Belfast poet, Sinéad Morrisey, was brought up in a Communist family. Hers was a childhood lived in the little world created by the party, a world apart from others and from the Troubles.  

It involved smoke-filled rooms, endless meetings, and dreams of a future utopia – coupled with a belief that east of the Iron Curtain, there were people already living in it.   

The fall of Communism in the eastern block was more than an historical event for her family – it was the end of a dream and of a way of life.  

Sinéad Morrisey’s new memoir is called ‘Among Communists’. 

She joined Ciarán Dunbar to explain the book and her story. 

‘Among Communists’: Belfast poet, Sinéad Morrisey tells her family and political story  

Murderer Stephen McCullagh has been aptly described as “a monster hiding in plain sight”.
A week on from his conviction there has been a lot of reaction to the the nerd-culture YouTuber’s conviction of murdering Natalie McNally.
He denied the killing, but the jury unanimously found him guilty in a matter of hours. He has yet to be given his tariff, but Natalie’s family says he should never be let out. 
They say he is simply “too dangerous to let out on the street”.
Meanwhile, the Sunday Life has revealed that a film made by McCullagh as a student chillingly foretold the murder and how he pretended to be one of our journalists to find out what evidence the cops had on him.
 
The Sunday Life’s Angela Davison joins Ciarán Dunbar with some of the stories which could not be told whilst the trial was ongoing and what has emerged since McCullagh’s conviction.

Note: An edit was made  to this podcast was at 10:00 am on Monday 30th March to correct an error. 

Wallace Thompson: DUP founder tells Sam McBride ‘New’ Ireland is inevitable

The BelTel

In 1 playlist(s)

The BelTel

Social links

Recent clips